A bird-brained council in a town plagued by pigeons are slapping residents with £75 fines for FLY-TIPPING – if they are caught feeding them crumbs.
People in Wednesbury, West Mids., are so fed-up with their cars and businesses being peppered with pigeon mess the council has launched a major crack down.
Street wardens from Sandwell Council can now issue £75 on-the-spot fines to people seen dropping food for the birds.
Councillor Elaine Costigan, who backs the scheme, said: “People are facing a £75 fine if wardens catch anyone dropping litter.
“We just want to get rid of the birds once and for all.
“People drop bread and bits of food at the bottom of Union Street, attracting them all.
“They are always sitting on top of the shops, so I think the shopkeepers are over the moon with the scheme.
“We once had so much mess on the floors that someone slipped.
“We are just trying to get through to people that it’s not right what they are doing.”
Local business owners have thrown their weight behind the ban on feeding the pigeons.
Florist Bridget O’Connell, who works in the town centre, said: “They are a nuisance, with the general mess they leave.
“I’ve put spikes on my property and done everything possible and we are still getting them flying under the blind and nesting. Something has to be done.
“They sort of dive bomb people as they are walking down the street so they are a real nuisance.
“I was once walking to the car park when a pigeon came out of a derelict building and landed dead in front of me.”
Council and business leaders have previously tried to rid the town of pigeons by employing a hawk handler to scare the birds away.
One trader even installed a fake wooden owl outside his business in an attempt to scare the pigeons away.
But some residents have reacted angrily to the scheme – branding it “draconian.”
Accountant Harry Powell, 45, said: “I think it’s a bit over the top to go round fining people for dropping a few crumbs.
“Unless someone is actually videoed or caught on camera putting bread out for the pigeons it seems completely unworkable. It’s a draconian measure.
“The council would be better off cleaning the rubbish off the streets and fixing the holes in the buildings which is where most of the pigeons nest.”
Earlier this year Bolton Council came under fire for issuing a woman with a #75 fine for littering when she left a leftover piece of pasty out for a pigeon.
